June 15th, 2009 · No Comments

Addie Randall, a partner in Blue Sun Renewable Energy in North Carolina, which owns the Mid-Atlantic distributorship for the Windspire, tells prospective customers the units are quiet and aesthetically appealing. Her company has installed several of the turbines, including the first of a group that will power the clubhouse at its own real estate resort development called Cedar Shores in Edenton, N.C.

“We put it (the first one) up and if the wind is really blowing, you can hear the wind more than the unit,” she said. “Because of the design with the vertical blades, it just doesn’t make that much sound. They’re quite elegant to look at and they spin more slowly…they’re very mesmerizing, very sculptural.”

Blue Sun intends to add solar power capabilities at the resort as well to power things when the wind is down but the sun is high in the sky. Such combination installations of localized, clean energy — solar, wind, geothermal — will be the way of the future, she predicts.

People do need to remember that they need adequate wind to make such a project pay off, which means they must live in an area with prevailing “Class C” wind speeds. In North Carolina, residences near the coast and in the mountains typically are well-suited to wind generation, she said.

Prospective wind clients also need to consider where the unit will fit on their property and whether it will meet city guidelines for being within a fall zone, though Ms. Randall doesn’t think that the strict fall zones required of wind turbines are necessary because the Windspire units are quite stable; no more of a tipping hazard than a light pole.

The beauty of the Windspire, she adds, is that it can be gracefully folded into architectural settings and it can be scaled up, if needed, with a series of units installed in a public garden or plaza much like an art installation.

“All the feedback we’re getting from architects is just that they’re smaller scale so they’re not overwhelming and they’re very sculptural,” she said. (See Nevada home with chocolate brown Windspires, right.)

One university is considering an installation of dozens of Windspires at the center of campus; and a well-known North Carolina resort also is weighing an installation, she said. Meanwhile, the city of Virginia Beach is looking at modifying its ordinance for wind turbines to make it easier to permit the Windspire because the units are quieter and shorter (30 feet compared with 50 feet) than conventional home wind turbines.

This week, Blue Sun is installing two units at a Chesapeake, Va., residence where the homeowner won a variance so he could place the units behind his one-story house.

Such small wind epitomizes local energy generation, putting the “power” directly into the hands of the homeowner, who can even sell any excess power generation back to his or her utility company through net metering.

In addition to generating power, small wind and large wind (units that generate more than 100 kilowatts) are helping regenerate U.S. jobs. Mariah’s Windspire is being produced at a factory in Manistee, Michigan that used to make auto assembly line parts. ABC’s 20/20 will feature the re-deployment of this rust belt factory in an episode on the new economy this coming Friday (June 19) at 9 p.m. CT/10 p.m. ET.

Hess, a former Silicon Valley entrepreneur who developed the first MPEG2 encoding system for DirecTV,  looks forward with high hopes. He expects to have a Windspire at the end of 2009 that will power an entire house and anticipates growing into a market with millions of potential customers — because nearly half of U.S. homes are built in areas where they wind could be successfully engaged for home wind generation.

The CEO and Mariah Power co-founder, also plans to have a rooftop unit on the market very soon.

Then, he intends to take his vertical wind solutions global.

“I am going to take this around the world, (to where) the cost of electricity is two to three times what it is in the U.S., in Europe, Africa and the islands. All of the island nations, Haiti, Jamaica.”

(Photos courtesy Mariah Power.)

Copyright © 2009 Green Right Now | Distributed by Noofangle Media

Pages: 1 2